I spent 4 days in Pisa, in the Sacred Valley, and decided to enjoy their famous Sunday Market, and to walk to the ruins instead of taking the tourist bus.

  I decided to do the climb very slowly and we will see, normally, one or two hours to reach the ruins!

 At the start of the hike, control of my ticket, and this guy starts to talk a little . I kind of manage to babble a mix of Portuguese and some Spanish words I learned, and of course, there is the classical question: are you married? Now I am used to it and invent a husband and children in Belgium. He seems to doubt ( I do not wear a wedding ring of course) so asks how old my husband is ;-) well, after some chit chat I finally can start my walk!

 Stunning landscapes! We are around 3000m, so above the tree line, but I see here and there Eucalyptus trees that, I was told, were imported because they resist the altitude and stop the erosion. In the beginning the path is paved, sometimes with stone steps that are quite high, so I go slowly, one step up, breath, one step up, breath. At one point I get a little dizzy, hop, some coca leaves to chew, I hate the taste but I have to admit, it works! After some minutes I feel much better. 

 A little further, I stop to admire the view over the valley with on my left all these terraces along the slope, so beautiful, and I hear music! A little lower I see this man standing close to the border of the path, watching like me the valley, and playing the flute! Magical! A little later he passes me (here they have a great physical condition!) and shows me the plants that are kind of mint, that one can inhale to get rid of headaches . I give him some money for the music!

 It is a lovely walk. I reach some ruins, a former village, built in these classical Inca stones that fit so well one could not get a needle in between, and I wonder why they would want to live here so high and remote? To escape the Spanish conquistadores?

 After regular little stops and about 1:30 hr, I finally reach the plateau where the more famous ruins are, and all the tourists. Grrr. Still I visit the fort, the "purification" baths, a tunnel carved in the rocks. Time to eat something, and then, think of going back. I do not want to go down so steep (knees!) so I decide to go back by the regular road.That was a good idea! 

 I passed lovely villages where the houses were made of sun dried mature bricks, facades decorated with paintings or carvings. Two tall dogs decided to accept me as a travel buddy, one left early, the other walked for some kilometres until I saw him get into a house. 

 Reaching the valley, I passed several yoga retreat centres, a little out the center, with mandalas painted on the walls and lots of bouddha statues. 

 Once in Pisac I enjoyed a light lunch and even more, the possibility to sit for a while! It was a lovely day! I just forgot my sunscreen, so I think I have a little sunburn on my nose ;-)